Hi Mary, Becky, and anyone who has any ideas, I just finished "Nutcracker" before Christmas and Mother Ginger was an extreme problem. I had asked this list for suggestions in mid-November, but only got one or two replies about using plastic plumbing pipe. That is what we ended up doing, but the results were less than wonderful. It is first on my list of what to tackle the next time we do it. Our dancer sat on top of a 4-foot aluminum ladder that was not-too-securely attached to a platform on wheels (casters). The panniers were dropped over the ladder, she crawled up the ladder and wiggled down in. They were pinned as securely as we could around her waist using upholstery strapping and we also had suspenders attached. I wish we would have thought of the backbrace--good idea! Then we dropped the skirt over her head (which was in several rather poorly connected pieces), an apron, bodice with cape sleeves, collar, and she wore an outlandish yellow wig. The panniers were approximately 4' by 7'. The size was based o! n the very cramped back stage space we had in our theater. We had to be able to fit in 14 six to nine-year-old 'Bon-Bons' and also another teenage girl who literally pushed the whole contraption on stage from underneath! Much of this was leftover technology from what had been done in previous years when I was not with them. Two of us had to dress Mother in the wings in only the ambient light coming from the stage. It was very, very shaky to say the least and I am so glad that we got through a Tech, a Dress, and 3 performances without a major mishap.
You have already given me some new ideas. I like the idea of the bottom row being a C-shape to let the dancers out--but then how did the pipe keep its shape and not collapse on itself? We used plumbing connectors and put crosswise braces of pipe at the long ends of the ovals. It kept the ovals from twisting, but it was not enough to keep the panniers from sagging under the weight of the skirt. You mentioned having put upright pipe every 2 feet. I can see that this would give good support, but then how did you get it to bend into an oval? We only used the upholstery strapping to connect the 3 horizontal rows of pipe. I knew this was a problem, but we couldn't come up with a better answer in the time we had left. You mentioned that you thought San Francisco had completely built a stationary frame onto a platform. I'm going to contemplate this one--because this may be the sturdiest idea in the long run. Our greatest problem there would be storing it in the off season--costume and prop space in the back of the ballet studio is very limited. Is this link below the Mother Ginger costume you saw? http://www.voiceofdance.com/Insights/features.test.cfm?LinkID=31500000000000174 I just love this! In my research on the 'Net for ideas, this was my absolute favorite! A house for all the children! One last question--what kind of movement did Mother make on stage? Did she just roll out on stage in a straight line and then back out? Did she completely cross and go off on the other side? Did she turn or make any other movements? Our director insisted that Mother turn in a circle once--after the children were out. I'd like to figure out a different method of locomotion than a person hidden in the skirts and pushing on all fours! Hope you all have your creative thinking hats on today, Thanks, Kathy >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/11/06 10:55 AM >>> Hi Becky, My daughter's ballet school does Nutcracker every year. They have a M Ginger dress that is large enough to hide about a dozen kids under it. You said your's is for a play, but it seems like the construction could be similar. They used the white plastic PVC pipe used for plumbing to create the structure, so that it would be rigid enough to hold its shape and hold the weight of the skirts. It has a top piece that is oval shape and a bottom piece that is a "C" shape (to allow the children a "door" to come out of), and then a few upright pieces, about every 2 ft?, to hold the two together. Then they used one of those back braces for workers who lift heavy stuff that has suspenders attached. The skirt frame is attached to that somehow (I never checked it out close up). Then the M Ginger dress goes over the whole kit-n-kaboodle. We went to see Nutcracker in San Francisco last month and I noticed that their M Ginger dress frame seems to be on wheels. The nice thing about that is that it probably takes a lot of weight off of the person wearing the costume and it "glides" across the stage. I have some pictures, but they don't show the framework. Let me know if you'd like to see them. HTH, ~mary [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 09:08:23 -0500 From: "Becky" Subject: Re: [h-cost] robe a la francaise I have to design a "Mother Ginger" costume for this Christmas play of the Nutcracker. I have many ideas from various sites. I see how to make the hoops atand out at different angles. I've thought about this since the first of December!!!! I work on it in my sleep. I've looked everywhere for a pattern to use but so far nothing is as large as I need. BUT some of the pictures I've found have been very helpful. Yours has helped me to see how to put it together. Any suggestions on how to make the underpinning hoops or farthingale that is 2-3 yards across? It has to be large for that character. «:*´`´`*:»§«.»§«:*´`´`*:».«:*´`´`*:»§«.»§«:*´`´`*:» "Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick & wicked." ~ Jane Austen "Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before." ~ Steven Wright _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
